#TBT: Should Richmond support Interstate 295?

#TBT: Should Richmond support Interstate 295?

RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – Do you remember Richmond before Interstate 295? The interstate that forms a partial circle around Richmond fully opened to traffic in June 1992. It was preceded not only by years of construction, but also debate.

In 1979, then Richmond Mayor Henry Marsh expressed his hesitation to fully approve the project.

“I think the thrust of this decision is to support the national policy of urban conservation that is conserving what we have in our urban areas rather than building new infrastructures to serve the needs of people,” Marsh said in a story produced in May 1979 and preserved in the WTVR CBS 6 Video Vault.

Transportation officials planned the eastern route of I-295 to connect Interstate 64 east of Richmond to Interstate 95 south of Petersburg.

Today Interstate 295 not only connects those two points, but also to I-95 in Hanover and I-64 in Short Pump.